Two of Europe’s top athletics officials, as well as one of its best sprinting coaches, Moira Gallagher, Keith Davies and Chris Zah were honoured infront of spectators and BBC television cameras with European Athletics awards at last weekend’s British Athletics Championships in Birmingham.
Chris Zah, from London, has been awarded a European Athletics Coaching Award for 2013. He is best known for his coaching of British hurdling star Perri Shakes Drayton.
His partnership with Shakes-Drayton has seen her become one of the world’s top hurdling talents as well as one of Great Britain’s top 400m and relay runners.
Peter Stanley of UK Athletics (Head of Field and Combined Events) said, “Chris is a very dedicated and enthusiastic coach. I have been lucky enough to have coached alongside him and witnessed the pleasure which emanates from the athletes as he conducts his sessions. He delivers quality coaching whilst maintaining a level of enthusiasm and fun as he communicates his thoughts to the individuals. He has honed the art of coaching athletes to high level performances through enjoyable training experiences.”
Each Member Federation can nominate one male and one female coach per year for the award based on the criteria ‘excellence in coaching’.
A list of this year’s winners can be found here.
Moira Gallagher, from Leeds, has been awarded the European Athletics Women’s Leadership Award for 2013 in appreciation for her outstanding service to the sport.
She worked with great success as meeting manager at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and is currently the Chair of UK Athletics’ Officials Education and Training Group while remaining a committed mentor to other officials. She continues to work towards raising the officiating standards at the Paralympics.
Click here for a link to Moira Gallagher’s profile.
The biennial awards were created in 2009 as the centrepiece of European Athletics' strategy to promote the development of women leaders and gender equity in the sport. A list of this year’s winners can be found here.
Keith Davies was awarded the European Athletics Member Federation Award in recognition of his valuable support to the sport of athletics.
His officiating has seen him involved at the European Athletics Championships and others leading events. Davies was at the heart of the preparations and delivery of the athletics competitions at both the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
He was instrumental in the development of UK Athletics’ track and field officiating courses assisting the progression of aspiring officials across the United Kingdom.
This honour is typically given to federation leaders proposed by the president of their national federation, a list of previous winners can be found here.
Cherry Alexander from UK Athletics commented, “Moira and Keith have been involved in officiating for a number of years and have officiated at top class athletics events all over the world. They have continued to excel, proving time after time that they are world class athletics officials and both thoroughly deserve these awards.”
“Athletics wouldn’t be able to exist without officials so it’s great that European Athletics have recognised their dedication and hard work with these awards.”